My dear Henry
We are very much obliged for your seeds, which I dare say will be a great ornament to our stove & I wish we could persuade you to come & see them blow – I was very sorry that we could not stay longer at Lacock as I should have enjoyed it very much and as we are not great frequenters of London I fear it will be long before I have an opportunity of endeavouring to make myself agreable [sic] to your cara sposa <1> to whome I am impatient to appear in the character of a real cousin – in our family I think that name has always been synonymous with friend –
We have heard of nothing but the fancy ball at Cardiff since we came home, which took place a few days before and has delighted every body – They all love to appear in characters most opposite to their own & one young lady not remarkable for beauty or spirit chose that of Catherine Seyton <2> – I suppose she told people whom she meant to represent or I am sure they would not have known – Emma <3> sent me a little Tyrrolese patois song to decipher the other day – it passes my knowledge & abilities so I send it you, pray make it out
Kit <4> slept here one night last week in his way to Margam <5> & looks very well, he came form Naples to Marseilles in the Galatea & was ten days about it & the diligence which he tried from thence to Lyons seems to have been still slower & more tiresome he saw John Strangways <6> at Paris & I suppose he is in England by this time – Mama <7> is at Penrice <8> now & Kit is going there next week – Emma & Mr Llewellyn <9> will be there too – Give my love to Aunt Lily & Horatia <10>
your affectionate cousin
Charlotte Traherne
Notes:
1. “Dear wife”, Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
2. One of Mary Stuart’s attendants in Sir Walter Scott’s The Abbot.
3. Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
4. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
5. Margam Park, Glamorgan: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
6. John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP.
7. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
8. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
9. John Dillwyn Llewelyn (1810–1882), Welsh photographer, JP & High Sheriff.
10. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother; and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
11. Rev John Montgomerie Traherne (1788–1860), JP & author.